http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igr2ok-hvjg&feature=share

I am the caucasian gentleman.

It appears that’s what it takes to make me happy.

To loved ones and role models who didn’t make it this far: I wish you could know how much you’re missed. I’ll do my best to deserve the life and inspiration you gave me.

Leaving the grid til tomorrow/next year. Hope to see the rest of you there.

Happy New Year.

At the most basic level winter is cold and cold weather kills off anything that might otherwise be lingering on.

(Except for squirrels, dandelions and morons. They’re immortal.)

My point is, it seems very natural to equate winter and its holidays with death.

And I know there are parts of the world where December is balmy but who can account for such places anyway?

Still, in recent days I’ve been met with the obituaries of Christopher Hitchens, Vaclev Havel, Joe Simon, Kim Jong Il and, for a few minutes, Jon Bon Jovi who quickly recovered.

I also learned Friday night of the suicide six years ago of a college friend I used to act with. Obviously we’d lost touch, but this is now the second person with whom I was once good friends who chose to leave early.

These are notches I’d prefer not to cut.

I’m otherwise having a great season, working a lot and enjoying the matchless good fortune of having a healthy family and no bad stuff near the horizon.

I don’t really know why I’m posting this except maybe to offer the idea that the holidays don’t need to be so bad if you don’t go in expecting them to be perfect, by your standards or anyone else’s.

Suck it, Martha Stewart.

Last thought:

When I really began to consciously part from the seasonal myths I’d been raised with I realized that, for all the satisfaction I took from being grown-up and done kidding myself, I still could feel a pang at the pretty trappings of lights and song and once a year food. The person I’d become was the sole surviving heir to the kid who’d once sung carols and been an archangel in the Christmas play. It was embarrassing, but also reassuring that I hadn’t become completely unsentimental.

Sometime between then and now a guy once asked me if I’d rather be happy or right.

I picked at that one for a long time until I realized there was no reason I couldn’t be both.

Happy holidays.

Wishing you Jack for the holidays!

Putting that aside (for now) I am beyond pleased to report that every one of my own picks came out on top. A cursory review of the numbers involved versus the unique page views on my stats program indicate that it’s unlikely I made a difference in the outcome of the races but that my readers and I helped contribute as many as a several hundred votes to the margins of victory. You can read  the results here and the reported numbers here. They make me happy.

What makes me even happier is reading the Red Apple Mom’s concession post now that all but two of her anointed teabaggers have gone down in flames. To be fair, five of the twelve people she endorsed got elected but three of them were running unopposed and one of them is a Democrat. Total teabagger score: 1 out of 12.

This leaves our new School Board with ten Democrats and two Northern Virginia Republicans. I predict Fairfax County Public Schools won’t be teaching Creationism and/or the works of Ayn Rand in the foreseeable future.

I also predict the R.A.M. (Catherine Lorenze) won’t be in much demand as a campaign “consultant” anytime soon. Perhaps some aspiring office-holder will hire her if Charles Manson isn’t available. Election losses like yesterday’s tend to change one’s public image from “Red Apple” to “Bruised Fruit.” Such is karma…

(BTW, I briefly considered changing this blog’s name to “Bad Apple Dad” but then figured the reference would be kinda dated by…. I dunno, today?)

Anyway, thanks and good job to all the local voters who stopped by and shared their questions and civic enthusiasm here. It was nice meeting you and I look forward to touching base in 2012.

Yeah, this was just warming up.

USA!

They have a website and if you click enough links at some point there will be a place to enter your address and then a few clicks later you get a list of people and things you will most likely be allowed to vote on someday if your paperwork is in order and they have enough properly trained volunteer staff and there’s no earthquake.

Say what you will about our time in LA, but for every election California made sure all its registered voters got magazine-sized booklets listing candidates, bond measures, referendums with endorsements, candidate statements and arguments for and against everything along with official retorts to same. In civic terms these were things of beauty.

You still had to be on your toes but it gave you an excellent foundation on which to work.

In contrast, Virginia in 2011 projects a sense that maybe we’d all be better off if voters just stayed in their homes. Perhaps it’s a result of George Allen’s governorship.

Did I mention George Allen wants to be a United States Senator next year?

Again?

This is why we have to get out of bed in the morning and do stuff like post our own sample ballots on our blogs. If we don’t people like George Allen and Eric Cantor get jobs where we have to pay them to embarrass us.

Anyway, I live near Gallows Road and the beltway and the following is what the Virginia Board of Elections says I can vote for. I hope you will too.

Click the accompanying links and they’ll take you to the more detailed reasons for my picks. (Short-form: None of these guys are teabaggers.)

1. Member Senate of Virginia, Jurisdiction 037. Vote for Dave W. Marsden. Here’s why.

2. Member House of Delegates, Jurisdiction 053. Vote for James M. “Jim” Scott. Here’s why.

3. Commonwealth’s Attorney, Fairfax County and City. Vote for Raymond F. Morrogh. Here’s why.

4. Sheriff, Fairfax County and City. Vote for Stan G. Barry. Here’s why.

5. Soil and Water Conservation Director Northern Virginia, Fairfax County. Vote for Johna Good Gagnon, George W. Lamb and John W. Peterson. No one else. This is important. Here’s why. Seriously read this.

6. Chairman, Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County. Vote for Sharon Bulova. Here’s why.

7. Member, Board of Supervisors, Providence District, Fairfax County. Vote for Lynda Q. Smyth. Here’s why.

8. Member, School Board at Large, Fairfax County. Vote for Ryan L. McElveen, Ilryong Moon, and Theodore J. “Ted” Velkoff. This is very important. The teabaggers are going all out to take over the school board. These three guys will prevent that. More details here.

9. Member, School Board Providence District, Fairfax County. Vote for Patty Reed. Or don’t. She’s running unopposed so it won’t matter either way. Details here.

10. Referendum on School Bonds Fairfax County. Vote YES. Here’s why.

No matter where you live, in Virginia or elsewhere, I hope you’ll take a few hours and do your diligence on these off-year local races. These are the seeds being sown for a later harvest. Or the cigarettes being thrown into political dry brush if you’re more cynical.

In 2010 the teabaggers churned up enough crazies that they took over half the legislative branch and perpetuated a recession that continues to this day. They did it for fun and profit and they got away with it because not enough of the rest of us put our shoulders to the wheel.

Next week we need to lean in and push ‘em back.

What could go wrong?

One of the candidates whom I liked for certain things but not for others took the trouble to write me back admonishing me for what she perceived as certain errors on my part, like not endorsing her. She provided a link for my benefit which I dutifully clicked and found happily free of porn.

Because I value civil give and take in politics and because it’s an easy blog entry I am cut and pasting our exchange in the comments section of the original post below.

Enjoy. Learn. Grow.

1. brownkaplan says:

   October 28, 2011 at 11:34 pm (Edit)

   Sorry, John. I don’t really believe you ever considered voting for me. You’re voting the straight Democrat-endorsed slate. Not that there’s anything wrong with that (a large number of my supporters are Democrats), but the reasons you give are both inconsistent and insincere. Maybe you should read my comments in the Connection and do better:http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp.
2. brownkaplan says:

   October 28, 2011 at 11:36 pm (Edit)

   Let’s try that again: http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=355204&paper=73&cat=109.
3. John Judy says:

   October 30, 2011 at 10:14 pm (Edit)

   Hi, Sheree, if I may call you that.

   First of all, thanks for stopping by.

   Second, thanks for coming back with what I hope was the link you intended. For anyone joining us here who doesn’t feel like clicking, I pulled Sheree’s quotes below:

   “Sheree Brown-Kaplan, a GOP-endorsed candidate running for one of the three at-large seats, acknowledged the Republicans are emphasizing a message of reform, which she defines as “accounting for decision-making and valuing community input.”

   “I haven’t heard any overarching message from the Democratic-endorsed candidates,” Brown-Kaplan said. “It does seem as if they are more supportive of the status quo and will continue a School Board leadership that works against parents and teachers, not with them.”

   …Brown-Kaplan said that those who vote straight-party tickets have not done their homework.

   “There are important concerns that parents and teachers have been addressing. Look at the endorsements of teacher organizations and parent groups like the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers and FairfaxCAPS. They have studied the issues and endorsed candidates based on their stands on the issues. It’s these organizations that should guide voters’ decisions,” she said.”

   Anyone still reading should feel free to click onto the full article. I did and have yet to be inundated with porn. It’s safe, is my point.

   As to your critiques that I, specifically, was insincere and inconsistent and never considered voting for you and, more broadly that people voting a straight party ticket haven’t done their homework?

   Well, let’s begin at the beginning:

   I considered voting for you or I wouldn’t have bothered checking you out. As I noted above and will repeat, I admired your work and commitment to advocating for students with challenges. What worried me was your endorsement by the local teabaggers. As we have painfully learned over the past two years they are a group that does not work and play well with others. They are a destructive force and need to be kept away from positions of influence and sharp objects.
   Ditto, the notorious Red Apple Mom, who’s been taken down hard by better than the likes of me.
   Now if you’d like to take this opportunity to disavow these endorsements and distance yourself from their sources I’d be happy to reconsider your candidacy. The election is still eight days away.

   However there’s still the matter of my sincerity and consistency. I’m not inclined to argue over either since I think it’s self-evident that I sincerely loath the teabaggers and the R.A.M. and I’m pretty consistent on that point. Read some of my other election posts if you doubt.

   Finally, moving away from me (at last!), let’s see if I can “do better” by addressing the points you make in the article you sent.

   1. You say you haven’t heard an overarching message from your Democratic opponents. I have. Sure, it’s similar to the Republicans in terms of campaign season rah-rah: Making Fairfax schools even better, keeping classes smaller, paying teachers better. It would be strange indeed to hear anyone on either side come out against these things.
   Where it differs, in terms of the candidates I most favor is that my guys take a stand against the shifting of resources away from lower-income students and students with special needs and putting the cash back into the schools of the “haves.”
   I’ve already stated my opposition to this either/or mentality and would advise anyone unclear on this to go back and read the original post. Frankly, I think this is a point on which you and I might agree.

   2. You say people voting a straight-party ticket haven’t done their homework.
   Sheree, the reason I am voting a straight party ticket is precisely because I have done my homework. I have looked at the candidates’ own words on their own websites. I have read their endorsements on other sites. I have sat in the audience for live candidate Q&As. I can say without blushing that I am one of the more informed voters going to the polls next week. The reason I am not voting for you, despite my agreement with some of your stated goals, is that you are backed by people I deeply distrust with the quality of my own kids’ educations.

   The GOP has done great harm to my country in my lifetime and the teabaggers have done and would like to do even more. If you want to tell me where you differ from them and what parts of their hard-right, anti-science, anti-union, anti-womens health agenda you would NOT work to advance I will give you all the space you care to use, unedited, on my modest corner of the Virginia blogosphere.

   If you make a compelling case I may even vote for you.

   In the meantime, with all due respect to the various organizations you say should guide my vote, I will continue to do my own research and let that, balanced with my values be my guide.

   Hope I’ve done better.

   One last thing while I have you: Your bio says “After leaving a position in the Office of Management and Budget, she worked in government affairs for a Fortune 500 company and, later, advocated for the interests of a trade association.”

   Could you elaborate under which administration you worked for OMB and for which companies you lobbied?

   They don’t appear in your bio.

   Thanks.

   

   Can't we all just get along? Yes we can.

There was some vigorous discussion over the issue on one of the local chat boards. I’ll link to that here and quote the line that convinced me to do the right thing. (Be aware the site has some NSFW language because it’s infested with teabaggers.)

“I wasnt even going to vote but I will vote yes now just cuz of all the tards telling me to vote no” – Bobbafeet, 09-15-2011

Voting “YES” on money for schools even though the county keeps squandering it on making our schools the best in the nation.

Today, we are all Bobbafeet.

"Tards!!!!"

In Fairfax County if a Republican is running unopposed it is reasonable to make a few assumptions:

1. She must be doing a bang-up job.

2. No Democrat wants the job.

3. She must be sufficiently not-crazy that no Democrat has been forced to run just to get her crazy ass off the board. My god, she could even be a Republican Moderate! I thought they were extinct! Quick, teabaggers! Git yore guns!

Regardless, because of her unopposed status the only things that could prevent her from winning are if  she is discovered to be running dog-fights in her basement or if she comes out as an atheist. I have no first-hand knowledge that either of these things are true.

I’ve looked her over and found nothing I object to other than the endorsements of our current GOP Governor and Pat Robertson protege Bob McDonnell and some offhand non-condemnations by the local teabaggers. I’m guessing if you’re a Republican candidate those are hard to avoid.

I’m not going to draw any lines in the sand on this since it’s inevitable. I may even vote for her myself just to exercise my bi-partisan muscles. I say, vote for Ms. Reed, leave that portion of your ballot unmarked or write in “Professor X.” The result will be the same.

Hell, if you’ve enjoyed these blogs write me in!

“If elected I will not serve…”

To me, my X-Men! We must fight the Brotherhood of Evil Teabaggers!

This came out of sympathy for one of the candidates whose campaign is driven by a horrible personal tragedy, the suicide of his son, due to the arbitrary implementation of an incredibly misguided school discipline policy which I hope will be changed soon before it ruins any more lives.

Further anger came from reading of the despicable woman behind the campaigns of the three GOP-backed candidates, who seems to think the best way to insure her own kids’ success in school is to work for the deprivation of other kids who evidently weren’t sufficiently motivated to be born to well-off parents. Yeah, “Red Apple Mom”, I’m talking about you, you shameful, self-centered shrew. Red Apple Mom’s real name is Catherine Lorenze and she was the subject of a Washington Post article that should serve as a litmus test for whether or not the reader has any brains or empathy. (Cheat-Sheet: If you buy her argument, you don’t.)

It turned out there was one candidate she backed for whom I had considered voting, but upon learning that she was a Red Apple darling I did the sane thing and wrote her off. Sorry, Sheree A. Brown-Kaplan. You are known by the company you keep.

BTW, the candidates are all listed by the Virgina Board of Elections as “Independents” and the race is described as “non-partisan.”

If you believe that please allow me to introduce myself as “Rich and Handsome.”

Here on planet Earth there are three endorsed by the Dems, three by the GOP and one who is truly unaffiliated. I’m voting for the Dems and so should you. I’ll tell you why below.

The preamble out of the way, let’s dive in. There are seven candidates for the board and we are told to vote for no more than three. In alphabetical order they are:

1. Sheree A. Brown-Kaplan (Republican/teabagger). Her website is here. The thing that grabbed me about Ms. Brown-Kaplan immediately was that she was running hard as an advocate for students with special needs. I admire anyone sticking up for people who weren’t born with the advantages many of us have. I also have friends who have kids with various degrees of autism, Aspergers, and A.D.D. What I’ve learned from them is that too often such parents have to fight tooth and nail to get their kids the resources they’re guaranteed as citizens in a US public school system. Yeah, I get that budgets are tight all over, but I’m devout in my conviction that the cheapest money you can spend is on getting kids well educated as early as possible. Hell, it shouldn’t even be considered spending. It should be called what it is: Investing. Because it pays dividends down the road with healthier, happier, more informed citizens working and going to the polls. The 2010 elections and their aftermath should be all the convincing you need about what happens when people with next to no critical thinking skills show up en masse to vote. We all pay for it and it costs a lot more than a little extra help for kids who need it.

Unfortunately, Ms. Brown-Kaplan is endorsed by the very people who are most likely to slash spending on such programs: The teabaggers, the lowest hanging fruit in our shared civic lives. I feel bad about this because she has a record of service to run on. Sadly this is outweighed by her association with people to whom we can not allow even a pinky-toe in the door. The teabaggers must be the kiss of death politically or they will continue inflicting their damage. We can not afford any more of it, least of all in our schools.

If Ms. Brown-Kaplan wishes to renounce these people I would be willing to give her a shot in the future. Some of her intentions seem good. Some of her friends are anything but.

2. Lin-Dai Y. Kendall (Republican/Teabagger) Her website is here.  Ms. Kendall is a naturalized citizen from Honduras who’s worked a variety of jobs but shown no interest in public schools until recently. She seems to have gotten active over a school closing that affected her. Her inexperience combined with a teabagger endorsement makes her an easy one to dismiss.

3. Lolita I. Mancheno-Smoak (Republican/Teabagger) Her website was not listed by the Virginia Board of Elections but I found it here.  A self-described “change agent and business transformation leader” and someone who will “never stop innovating”, Ms. Mancheno-Smoak emigrated from Ecuador as a girl and has racked up a decent collection of letters after her name. Unfortunately none of them have anything to do with public education and she lists no experience volunteering or otherwise serving in that area. Once again, inexperience plus a teabagger endorsement equals a big “NO.”

4. Ryan L. McElveen (Democrat) His website is here. I must say of all the candidates Mr. McElveen is my favorite. He looks a bit like a young Lex Luthor and his on-camera delivery needs some polish, but his resume is extraordinary and his history of educational activism within Fairfax speaks well of him. He’s a product of Fairfax County schools and he’s very conscious of his obligation to give back. I could cut and paste several great quotes from his site but I’d rather you go there and see for yourself. He gets high marks for being a young man who could do (and has done) a lot of other things, but who chooses to apply his gifts to public service. Many kudos to him along with my vote.

And extra kudos for specifically going after Rotten Apple’s “Screw the Poor Some More” agenda. I love progressives who hit back. Hard.

5. Ilryong Moon (Democrat) His website is here. Mr. Moon is another great candidate. He’s a 12-year incumbent on the school board with a long record of service in other areas. A Harvard-educated attorney, he is a partner in a local firm who has managed somehow to do a wide range of community service over the years. I also like that he has skin in the game. His kids both graduated Fairfax schools and he’s married to a public school teacher. Re-electing Moon.

6. Steven M.F. Stuban (Independent) His website is here. This is the one that tore me up and I’ll advise you if you read further it will do the same to you.

Candidate Stuban and his wife are career Army veterans who had one child, Nick. Earlier this year Colonel and Mrs. Stuban lost their son to suicide as a result of one of the stupidest, most disproportionately harsh school disciplinary measures I have ever heard of.

Nick Stuban was 15 when he got caught buying artificial marijuana, a drug that is not illegal. For this he got run around the system and transferred to a different high school away from his friends and a support system he had grown up and thrived with. Not long afterwards he became depressed and took his life. This has inspired Colonel Stuban to run for School Board.

Just re-reading that bare bones account of what the Stuban family has so needlessly endured leaves me stunned. If you visit Colonel Stuban’s site you’ll see in addition a description of what a good kid Nick Stuban was and a mention of Mrs. Stuban’s activism since she took medical retirement in 1997 for Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS).

For any family to suffer such loss is horrible, but for a family that has served our country for so long and in as many ways as the Stubans it is beyond unjust. It makes a non-emotional response almost impossible, but after having sat with it for a few days I’m going to try.

Colonel Stuban is obviously a very capable and educated man. His resume is impressive in many ways. If elected I believe he would very likely rise to whatever tasks he was called to.

However, his resume does not include previous work or activism in education. He has been very involved in the past year with promoting changes in disciplinary policy to prevent more such incidents as the one that led to his son’s death. I agree with this goal and applaud him for working through unimaginable pain to prevent it for others.

And while he has not received an official County GOP endorsement he has been tainted with an endorsement from that other group that seeks shamelessly to appropriate the legacy of true historic American patriots. I see no sign that he courted that endorsement though, so I will cautiously give him a pass on what would normally be a deal-breaker.

As I said, the emotion factor is high on this candidate, especially because he seems to be a truly decent man.

My own considered opinion is that I would like to see some more time elapse between recent events and Colonel Stuban holding office. If he continues his engagement in Fairfax education issues and builds a further record of service there I could very easily see voting for him in the election after this one.

Regardless, he has my gratitude for his service and my condolences for his loss. I wish him peace.

7. Theodore J. “Ted” Velkoff (Democrat) His website is here. I’m casting my third vote for Mr. Velkoff based on his ten years experience volunteering and serving at the ground level of Fairfax public schools and beyond. His resume includes numerous service positions within the education system as well as a masters degree in computer science. His two daughters are Fairfax County graduates and I think it’s commendable that he still wishes to give back to the schools from which they benefited.

Summarizing:

I recommend voting for McElveen, Moon and Velkoff.

Don’t vote for the others as they are less qualified and have visible “tea” stains.

Finally, to any Red Apple/Lorenze voters out there who have read this far: Thanks, seriously. Good on you for taking it all in. Now here’s my constructive criticism.

We should not be engaged in either/or, win/lose games when it comes to educating kids.

I disagree with Lorenze’s worldview of “Give the poor kids larger class-sizes so my rich kids can have the small classes. I pay more in taxes! I should get the good stuff! Waaa!”

That is a stupid way to view the world and ignores the obvious, if more difficult third choice: Every kid, rich and poor, should get smaller class size. Every kid should get the resources they need to become all they’re capable of. We just need to suck it up and pay for it. It’s worth it in the long run for the benefits we get from educated kids. Pay for small classes now and you’re not paying for welfare and prison in 15 years.

Or maybe just look at a poor kid and look at your own and tell yourself “There, but for the grace of God…”

Eat the apple, my pretty! Eee-hee-hee-hee!

I think we can all vote for this.

I went here tonight for your sins.

1. Republican challenger Chris S. Grisafe. Although I won’t be voting for him I want to open by saying two nice things about the GOP challenger.

First he’s veteran of the Coast Guard and you have to respect that.

Second, he has a much better website than the incumbent. Its content is mostly fluff and GOP dog-whistle phrases but it looks better and has lots of stuff like his friends saying nice things about him and YouTube videos he shot of himself in his kitchen nook.

It’s all lightweight amateur hour stuff one would associate with an inexperienced first-time campaigner (or possibly Lonelygirl15), but the Dems would be well advised to upgrade their websites to be as visually inviting to visitors as the GOP’s.

In the meantime the Republicans might want to upgrade their candidates and policies to be as serious and capable to address the needs of their potential constituents as the Dems.

(One final note to Mr. Grisafe: If you are a young, apparently unmarried male GOP political wannabe you may want to find some other community activity to list than “Counselor” to a local frat. I’m not judging or making assumptions, but the often burned Values Voters among the GOP base might not want to risk another incident. Just sayin’…)

Moving on to…

2. Democratic incumbent Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth. Unfortunately her campaign site is buried deep in the forests of Google and isn’t listed at all by the Virginia Board of Elections, but her official state site reveals an impressive record of service. She’s got a PhD in history from the University of Virginia. She was a Fairfax County teacher for 12 years, a County Planning Commissioner for four and she’s been elected to her current office twice. She’s been a proponent of “smart growth” in the county and has championed high density housing and business development in locations near easy access to public transportation. As someone who has to drive in this area I appreciate that.  She also has a history of bipartisanship, having voted for moderate Republican Senator John Warner in 1996, back when there were such things as moderate Republicans.

She’s received a strong endorsement from the Washington Post, which I’ll cut and paste here to save anyone the trouble of clicking:

“Washington Post, October 9, 2011

Providence District. Linda Q. Smyth, who was first elected to the board in 2003, is a fastidious, detail-oriented, nose-to-the-grindstone public servant, long on the substance of public policy if slightly short on rhetorical flash and sizzle. As the representative for the district that includes much of Tysons, the Democrat will play a key role in redeveloping an area that amounts to Fairfax’s downtown.

By contrast, her Republican opponent, Chris S. Grisafe, lacks any experience or qualification for the job. Mr. Grisafe’s grasp of policy and politics is so tissue-thin that he doesn’t even mention the word “Tysons” on his campaign Web site; that alone should disqualify him.”

Ouch.

Re-electing Linda Q. Smyth on November 8th.